Dzul Dance Presents MAYA 2012: a new beginning

Dzul Dance announces the premiere of their latest choreography, MAYA 2012: a new beginning. For the third consecutive year, Dzul Dance's work will be presented at the Baruch Performing Arts Center, 55 Lexington Avenue (at 25th Street) in Manhattan, from January 26th, 2012 through January 29th, 2012.

Dzul Dance fuses modern dance with aerial arts and contortionism as a means to communicate indigenous pre-Hispanic culture. In Maya 2012 Dzul transforms his company into earthbound and airborne forces of nature, creating a different way of seeing and understanding the world.

The year 2012 is a moment of great expectation in many different cultures throughout the world. The end of the Mayan calendar signifies not an end but a period of transition from the end of one cycle into the beginning of another.

One of the only indigenous Mayan choreographers in the world, Artistic Director Javier Dzul was born and raised in a Mayan tribal community in southern Mexico performing ritual dances, speaking Mayan and studying ancient teachings until the age of 16. Dzul provides a bridge between contemporary art and historical heritage, illustrating the ancient Mayan prophecies related to the 2012 phenomenon. The choreography simultaneously explores Dzul's past experiences with rituals of transformation, as well as his past relationship and connection to the natural world.

The 2012 January program features performances by Artistic Director Javier Dzul, guest contortionists Jonathan Nosan (Director of Acroback) and Anna Venizelos (former soloist with Cirque du Soleil), along with Dzul Dance company members Kyla Ernst-Alper, Desiree Sanchez (Chelsea Piers), Ji Hyeun Bang, Chellamar Bernard, Cornelius Brown, Robin Taylor Dzul, Courtney Jackson, Nicole Lichau, Orlando Martinez and Matthew Sparks. With lighting design by Mike Inwood and costume design by Javier Dzul, this diverse and eclectic group opens the door to another dimension.

"Since I founded my company all of my choreographic projects have related in some way to the end of the Mayan calendar and the prophecies that prepare us for this event," said Javier Dzul, Artistic Director of Dzul Dance. "The ending of the Mayan calendar represents a reason to unite all the different elements of the prophecies with particular rites of passage and relate them to a forgotten, but still alive culture."

Parts of the Maya 2012 choreography were created in a residency at the Banff Centre for the Arts in Alberta, Canada where Javier Dzul was a guest performer, teacher and lecturer for Banff's Aboriginal Arts program. Maya 2012 first premiered at the Mazatlan Cultural Festival in Mazatlan and Teatro Cancun in Quintana Roo, Mexico.

Performances will take place at Baruch Performing Arts Center (at Baruch College), 55 Lexington Avenue (at 25th street, between Lexington & 3rd Ave) in Manhattan.